Author:

• Marta Julia Marques Lopes - Lopes,M.J.M - Porto Alegre, RS - UFRGS - <marta@enf.ufrgs.br>

Thematic Area:

Não Categorizado

Abstract:

Abstract
The 2004 national vaccination campaign of elderly people (60 years old and over) against the Influenza virus provided the opportunity of carrying out a descriptive transversal epidemiological study with the objective of comparing the elderly population, who took the vaccine and who did not take it in relation to the occurrence of events of diseases or hospital admittances within the timeframe of three months after the vaccination. It was not possible working with probable sampling and the attempt of pairing the vaccinated and non-vaccinated elderly was not successful due to the high vaccine coverage observed (73% of the target population) and due to the short time available in order to make the interviews. The result of the descriptive analysis of these 1,130 interviewed elderly was quite interesting even though it was not possible to infer it regarding the universe of the elderly population from Porto Alegre. Among the vaccinated population, we have found a higher proportion of people in the age group of 70 to 79 years old (42%) and, among the non-vaccinated population, in the age group of 60 to 64 years old (40%). The vaccinated elderly comprise mostly older people; women, who have private health care insurance; they declare higher income; they perform physical exercises; and, they are non-smokers. The non-vaccinated elderly are mostly men; they are younger; they have lower income; they do not perform physical exercises; and, they are smokers. A lower percentage of reports of pneumonias and hospital admittances was observed among the vaccinated people in comparison to the non-vaccinated people.

Keywords: Elderly; Vaccination; Influenzae

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